Eliot Spitzer's Comeback Is More Scary Than Tawdry

The sex scandal that ended Spitzer's governorship in 2008
distracted attention from his even more egregious abuses of power.
Because his downfall was associated with personal foibles, he now
has an opening to regain power, which he will no doubt abuse again.

In 1994, Spitzer launched his political career by cheating and
then lying about it. A lawyer and prosecutor without a very public
profile, Spitzer had no political experience when he decided to run
for New York state attorney general.

But he did have a very rich father. Over the course of two
campaigns for AG (the unsuccessful 1994 race and the 1998 victory),
Spitzer manipulated campaign finance law and effectively received
millions in campaign donations from his real estate mogul father,
according to the New York Times, even while publicly denying it.

Once sworn in as AG, Spitzer was able to raise his profile by
publicly shaming unpopular targets. When a wave of scandals rocked
Wall Street in 2001 through 2003, Spitzer seized the opportunity.
His strategy was to attack behavior that seemed improper (even if it
wasn't necessarily illegal) and keep leaking embarrassing
information to the media until his targets agreed to settle rather
than endure more negative publicity.

When Spitzer's targets were willing to stand up to the public
shaming campaign and fight him in court, Spitzer's record as a
prosecutor was far less impressive. Years before AIG collapsed and
sought a federal bailout, a Spitzer lawsuit forced the ouster of
chief executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who had spent decades
building the company. Eight years later, the suit has gone nowhere.
(Among the prominent individuals targeted by Attorney General
Spitzer was Washington Examiner owner Phil Anschutz. The case was
settled out of court.)

Spitzer also selectively targeted individuals based on their
political affiliation. …

The rest of this article is only available to active members of Questia

Print this page

While we understand printed pages are helpful to our users, this limitation is necessary
to help protect our publishers' copyrighted material and prevent its unlawful distribution.
We are sorry for any inconvenience.